Have you noticed how often women always talk about men in movies/TV shows?

I believe there is a test somewhere, where you watch a movie or whatever and you keep an eye out for what women normally talk about and there's a check-list you have to follow, but I can't remember what it's called.Anyway, it's really surprising how in pretty much everything I've watched, women are almost always talking about a guy. You noticed this too?

Most Helpful Girl

It's called the Bechdel test, by the way, you're right. To pass the Bechdel test, there has to be two female characters, they have to talk to each other, and the conversation has to be about something other than a man. Unfortunately, so many things fail the test which is basically ankle-height. In my experience, women in real life don't talk about men nearly as much as movies would have you believe :P

Most Helpful Guy

haha, yes, the Bechdel test. To pass, a work of fiction needs to have two women (usually needs to be two named women) talk to each other about something other than a man. It's used to point out gender inequality in fiction, because it seems like it should be an incredibly simple test to pass, but it's not. While films are getting better, only about half of all films released can pass such a simple test.

A woman saying a line to another woman who doesn't respond to that line doesn't count as a 'conversation' - there needs to be at least a reply. And movies as big as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, or Avatar... or the entire original Star Wars trilogy... or the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy (seriously, 10 hours of movie, and no two female characters ever speak to each other...). In Avatar they at least have a conversation... but it's about a man.

The good thing, in my opinion, is that since this has become a 'thing', something that more people actively pay attention to, it's started becoming better. It's spawned a few other tests too, like one for software development to encourage more gender representation, and one of LGBT character inclusion.

Weird though, once you know about it, to see how prevalent a problem it is.

What Guys Said 9

Movies are only snippets of a false life anyways.In real life girls talk about a million different things, but guys "in my experience" is a very common subject. But that can be anywhere between a guy one girl likes/in dating and the weird guy behind the counter at 711. So there's a lot of gray areas.

The Bechdel-Wallace test? Yeah I used to pay attention to it then I realized it was pretty irrelevant these days. My biggest issue with the test is that if you have a male protagonist your chances of failing the test sky rocket. A lot of movies are about one character's journey and every conversation that happens is with that character or about that character. So a female protagonist in a movie like this would pass but a male protagonist would fail. So in an industry that at the time was heavily populated by men, who would more than often tell the story from a prespective they understand better, a lot of movies could be expected to fail. Also the smaller the cast you have the more likely your movie is to fail. If barely anyone talks in the movie than the test isn't really that helpful. So a huge amount of movies are gonna fail this test purely due to storytelling style with no inherent sexist bias. I think once more female producers, writers and directors become senior members of the field people will begin to see this isn't an issue of sexism but just an issue about the restraints of storytelling. Also it's all fantasy. When did fantasy need to be realistic?

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Opinion Owner

Also war movies whether it be a real war or a fantasy war are more likely to fail. There's just not as many women in military settings. It's increasing these days but war is still disproportionately a male dominated situation and most movies will reflect that.

As movies have an unique history to their production. The dialog in movies do not. Historical, you can trace their references back to Greek times. Where there would be a grand adventure forced upon a man for a sin he had committed or been accused of committing. He would gain popularity as he completed his deeds and yes I’m talking about bot Hercules and Achilles. Dialogs where made for the audience to make the adventure seam grand and fulfilling. And what time in history did a man not long for a beautiful woman and a woman swoon over a hero? Um still happens though not publicized so much now.

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Anonymous

You're way off. IRL women like to talk about personal relationships and movies and shows targeting women put that dialogue in there. But they don't just talk about men; any family members or close friends make it into the script.

Characters talk about whatever makes sense for their roles in the show. If it's a romance, they talk about their romantic partners; if it's a cop show, they talk about investigations.

I think it's just women your age who are like that, if anything. So you're "way off" with your generalisation.Oh and notice how I said "almost always", I didn't say men are the exclusive female conversation topic on movies and stuff. Just that more often than not, when it's two women having a convo, it's about men.

Hey, thanks for putting worda in my mouth. Must be easy to feel like you're right when you do all the talking.

My point is that irl women's conversations focus a lot more on personal relationships than men's do, so there is a noticeable difference in dialogue when you compare the ahows that target female audiences vs. shows that target male audiences. Also, characters -- if they're written well -- will say and do things ONLY related to the characters involved in plot. Writing a script to specifically fulfill requirements that do not advance the plot or develop characters is a bad idea.

In many shows/movies that target male audiences, women almost always talk about men when they're alone, whether it be brothers, fathers, boyfriends, boss or what have you. When it's two men (not necessarily main characters) talking when they're alone, they're usually talking about the plot. In many shows/movies that target female audiences, it's usually about romantic stuff (involving men), unless the people involved in making the movie/show are tied to feminist ideologies. I've applied the "Bechdel test" to a variety of movies and TV shows over a long period of time and most of them fail. I mean, women can't be talking about men that much irl. In fact, a few GaG users have confirmed that they don't (and I'm sure most would also confirm).

I'm familiar with the Bechdel test and don't bother with it for several reasons. The most important is that to "pass" the test a specific set of circumstances must occur: two named female characters and no male characters must have a conversation that is not about men. That's it. This test has nothing to do with plot, theme, characterization, or anything at all related to the story. On the surface this appears to be a simple test but in reality isn't, especially if the main character is male, because then the Bechdel test requires two subordinate characters to have a conversation NOT about the story. Any ACTION performed by any number of female characters doesn't satisfy the test's requirements.

Additionally, almost all shows that "pass' a Bechdel test "fail" a reverse Bechdel test.

Regarding how often women talk about men irl compared to movies, I know there's a difference. That gets put in because it's more interesting to an audience than unrelated, plot-inconsequential stuff.